You and Your Disabled Child

ISBN 1-84683-067-2

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by Margaret Barrett

A wealth of valuable practical advice for parents of disabled children

Caring for a disabled child presents parents and other family members with numerous difficulties to overcome, and in this informally-written guide, Margaret Barrett ~ a healthcare professional with many years experience of looking after disabled children ~ offers a great deal of sensible and practical advice that all parents will find useful.

Central to her theme is the idea that disabled children should be treated, as far as their disabilities will allow, in exactly the same way as their able-bodied siblings, in order to help them achieve their maximum potential and become as independent as possible.

She offers a number of workable recommendations as to how this may be achieved, as well as advising how to overcome commonly held misconceptions and prejudices about handicapped children that are likely to be encountered in the world at large.

She also explains why it is vitally important that parents of disabled children avoid the all-too-common mistake of being over-protective, thus unintentionally denying their offspring valuable opportunities to experience new sensations, acquire new skills and maximise their potential.

Written in straightforward language in an easy-going and friendly style, this very useful book achieves its objective to help parents of physically and/or mentally challenged children to get the most out of life.

Margaret Barrett originally qualified as a teacher of mentally handicapped children in Manchester and went on to teach children with multiple handicaps. She then underwent two years training in developmental education in the USA and on her return to the UK worked for a number of charities concerned with brain injured children.

During her career she has helped children in several countries including Switzerland, Australia, Italy, Finland and Japan.

Today Margaret is based in South Wales where she runs her consultancy Developmental Intervention, and she still makes regular visits to Japan to work with families there. She is also in close contact with the founders of the Willem Group at the Australian Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential in Victoria.